Directed by: Kevin MacDonald
Starring: Ben Affleck, Jason Bateman, Russell Crowe, Rachel McAdams, Helen Mirren, Robin Wright Penn
Rating: PG-13

Russell Crowe and Ben Affleck star in the taut thriller State of Play. (Courtesy photo)

Never mind that it’s based on a British miniseries of the same name. State of Play should have had a different title. Between the forgettable name and the lack of specificity in its trailer, it’s no wonder this taut thriller didn’t find a larger audience. Too bad, because until a final twist that it should have avoided, State of Play is very compelling.

Director Kevin MacDonald keeps things moving at a snappy pace, laying out a complex set of twists and turns with workmanlike skill. Can you tell this is six hours reduced to 135 minutes? Yeah, a little. There’s lots of convenient progress made via phone calls and surprise informants. But it mostly works, thanks to MacDonald’s straight-ahead steering and the energetic charms of Russell Crowe and Rachel McAdams.

Senator Stephen Collins (Ben Affleck) is heading a committee to investigate Pointcorp, the private military firm that receives the lion’s share of civilian contracts from the United States government. The movie opens with his chief researcher being killed. It gets worse when she and Collins are linked romantically. This is especially tricky for reporter Cal McAffrey (Crowe). He’s the ace reporter for the venerable Washington Globe, but he’s also Collins’ old college roommate. His paper has been taken over by a giant media conglomerate. His editor Cameron Lynne (Helen Mirren) is breathing down his neck to slam Collins. And political blogger Della Frye (McAdams) is also going after Collins hard.

Cal must put aside his friendship—and the fact that he once slept with Collins’ wife Anne (Robin Wright Penn)—to find the real story. Is Pointcorp involved? Are two seemingly unrelated murders connected? Can he work with an online reporter? Are there three more twists that get progressively less interesting?

There’s a point where State of Play peaks. If it’s in sync with the progression of the series, that was probably episode four. MacDonald and screenwriters Matthew Michael Carnahan, Tony Gilroy, and Billy Ray should have stopped there. Where State of Play ultimately goes is exactly where it seems like it’s going in the trailers. The nice surprise was finding out it was something else—until it wasn’t anymore.

I don’t seek out Russell Crowe movies, but I also seldom leave disappointed. Crowe is a tough person to like between films, yet he usually manages to win you over during a film. He knows he can come on strong with his intensity and double-speed mind, but he is so effective at disarming us with his carefully meted-out smiles.

As for Rachel McAdams, do you think she’d maybe have a cup of coffee with me or something? McAdams (The Notebook) has a special mix of reluctant beauty and fierce intelligence. She’s also adept at finding humor where others wouldn’t. She’s a terrific foil for Crowe, who generally finds better chemistry with male costars than female ones.

Ben Affleck is inconsistent as the young senator. He hits a couple of key scenes out of the park, but too often seems overmatched by the material and Crowe. Helen Mirren (The Queen) gives a rare stinker of a performance. It may have more to do with the fact that her hardnosed editor is the most clichéd character in the film, but it’s a surprising misstep by the great Mirren. Most of the supporting cast is good, especially Jason Bateman as a sleazy PR man in way over his head.

MacDonald directed the brutal Last King of Scotland, a movie with almost no levity and no break from shear dread. State of Play is engagingly gritty—most of the Washington, D.C., locales are rundown, including the Globe offices. But it’s more lively than you might think. It’s also not as pretentious as the only marginally superior Michael Clayton.

The debate between newsprint word and cyber news isn’t given more than cursory attention, though Crowe is forced to give a few haughty speeches about truth and integrity. Neither do Halliburton and other models for Pointcorp get more than a scolding, for better or worse. The only other glaring issue is that McAffrey’s crazy conspiracy theory seems all too obvious. It’s Mirren and McAdams who look silly for not believing it. MacDonald tries for a few dum-da dum-dum! moments when they’re not quite earned. Plot-heavy political thrillers are tough to pull off, and though State of Play isn’t perfect, it’s one of the better of its kind in recent years.

Alex Manugian lives in Sherman Oaks, Calif. He grew up in Groton and has reviewed movies for Harvard readers for many years.